(Continued From Totcrdsi.)
When Stephen's business took bim
to New York, Laurel was enrolled
ae a pupil in the exclusive school of
the community. She attended the
exclusive dancing class, and she at
tended the exclusive Sunday school.
Stella belonged to a few helpful or
ganizations herself. Her name WHS
in the Blue Book. She had at least
a bowing acquaintance with almost
everybody "worth-while." She had
lots of men friends. Slje believed she
had quite a few women friends of
value. There was, besides, Stephen's
membership at the River Hub, an as
set Indeed to her now. since she had
no house of her own In which to en
tertain crowds, and pay hack social
dehts.
It was n very unhappy day for
Stella when she first learned that
Stephen had resigned from all his
Milhampton clubs. She thought it
was the crudest blow he cbuld deni
her. At that time Stella was merer
fully unaware how many more cruel
blows were to follow, not from Ste
phen atone, but from everybody—
from all sides. They didn't come all
at once. If they had, she must have
been convinced of the futility of her
effort, and given up her fight early.
Her defeat was gradual. She lost
ground by degrees. Her various
points of vantage and fortresses of
strength fell slowly. This season she
failed to receive an announcement of
the Current Events class; next sea
son, her name appeared to have l>pcn
dropped from the charity ball list.
The season after, the small Lunch
eon club she belonged to was reor
ganized and she was omitted. Every
year thero wero personal slights of
. ’ various kinds, coolnesses. Intentional
inattentions from all quarters. Laugh
ingly—bitterly, too—she told herself
that the people in Milhampton must
be having 'some sort of chronic eye
difficulty. ■ So many old friends and
acquaintances failed to recognize her,
lately. But Stella didn’t lose hope.
She didn't, anyhow, show that she
lost hope. She managed to keep her
eyes bright, and her lips smiling, and
her head erect, in spite of repeated
rebukes.
"Why, I've got to. For Louie's
sake," she said. "Lollie mustn’t know
her mother has got anything to look
BOur-faced over. Oh. we ll be all right
after a while—Lollie and me,” she
told Eflie Mellavltt. “We’ll come out
on top in the end. You watch us.”
It was always "Lollie and me."
always “we," and "us.” by that time.
Stella didn't even think in the sin
K lar number, one,; her maternal in
stinct had worked itj way up through
her vanities and self interests and ap
peartd In her consciousness. The
seed of it must havo been planted
deep, for it took a period of years to
appear. In vain Stephen had looked
for it when Laurel was a baby; and
later when she was in the helpless,
toddling stage.
For the first halfdozen years of
Laurel’s life, Stella took her lightly.
Not that she neglected her in any
obvious way. She couldn't. There
were certain manners and forms in
the modern bringing up of a child
that had to he observed. Slis had an
excellent nurse girl for Lollie; she
spent hours in the selection of Lol
lie’s clothes; she had a Mother
Goose cretonne at Lollies windows; a
Noah’s-Ark paper on Lollie's walls.
There were low chairs, and low
shelves. Stella loved to show Lau
rel's room to guests, when occasion
arose. Laurel benefited by many an
attention from Stella in those days
that did not spring from the mater
nal Instinct. However, the maternal
instinct must have been growing un
derneath the surface, and growing ac
cording to nature’s own methods—
sending down tough wiry roots in the
dark, all the while it was sending up
Its tender arrow-pointed shaft of life,
for when it did shoot into the light,
the plant was strong and vigorous.
3.
During the years between Laurel’s
sixth birthday and her thirteenth
there were many times for Stella to
use her claws. There were many
times that Laurel was hurt and Stella
knew It. "Though the funny little kid
doesn't think I do. She never lets
on to me. I Just have to guess at
It from the way she acts.”
If she came home from school espe
oially quiet • and uncommunicative,
and was not very hungry at dinner,
Stella would begin to lie suspicious
“What's the matter?" she would
demand with a pieroing look.
“Nothing,” Laurecl would reply,
feigned surprise and wonder In her
face.
"Has anything happened at
school?”
"No."
"Who'd you play with at recess?"
“Nobody special."
"Did you play all alone?”
"No.”
"Look here, Lollie. Answer me
Has somebody been horrid to you?
Has somebody hurt your feelings?”
"No.”
Ig Stella stared at her hard enough,
probed long enough, Laurel might re
ply, "My stomach aches a little i«it,”
and pay the price of two shredded
wheat biscuit and no dessert for din
iter.
It would never he worn Laurel that
Stella would get the first wind of a
party in prospect from which Laur'd
was omitted. Laurel would never
tell her that the girls in her class
were meeting every few days at each
other s houses to work for a fair, or
to rehearse a play or fete in which
she had no part. When information
of an event of this sort did reach
Htella, she knew then what had been
the cause of Laurel’s quiet, brown
study day a week ago. And yet she
couldn't use her claws after all It
Iowa Girl Poet Wins Praise
From Nebraska Poet Laureate
A rising young Iowa, poet is Miss
Catherine Elizabeth Hanson of l.e
Mars, la., Many of whose verses have
appeared in The Omaha Bee.
Miss Hanson was born at I«e Mars,
la., 18 years ago. Despite her youth
slie has already won recognition, not
only in verse, but in varied literary
fields. Her work has also been corn
plimented by John fi. Neihardt, Ne
braska.’s poet laureate.
During the war Mies Hanson wa:
awarded a national four-minute cer
tificate of honor by the I'nited State:
government and was made a Four
minute man of honor for her service
as a speaker.
Slie is the prssessor of many beau
tiful medals won on the speaking
stags for her prowess in dramatis art.
Among them are a silver treasury
medal awarded her by I lie govern
ment, two gold medals won in dra
matic contests for the interpretation
of fthakesperian plays and another
silver medal which was presented to
her by the Women's Christian Tem
perance union when she made an ap
Catherine Elizali in i4..naon.
peal for better morals, temperance,
and the disruption of the drug traffic.
Much of Miss Hanson's verse Is de
voted to sentimental subjects. The fol
lowing poem, "Love,” Is typical of her
work;
Love is the light, the majesty of life—
In joy or woe, a giant power It stands;
Take it away—a wildernes you'll find,
A barren waste amid most fertile
lands.
Love’s darts are silver, and they turn
to fire,
That dormant spark In noble heart of
youth;
Not all the gents In this great world
of ours
Could flash forth such ft brilliancy
forsooth!
Love is the sun of life, and sum
thereof;
Life without love—a world without a
sun;
Food for the soul that helps It
broaden out,
To love but once before our life is
done.
If, breaking forth from prison bonds,
we dare
To snatch from Phoebus’ hand celes
tial fire,
|
would be the worst policy In the
world. For the sake of Lollies fu
ture, for that dim, far-away, full-of
promlse time when Lollie would "coir.e
out" (girls "came out”, now. In Mill
hampton), she must be as nice and
purry as she knew how to the women
she knew who could help her daugh
ter.
Laurel could see through her moth
er's little shams and deceits, devised
to spare her pain, much quicker than
Stella could see through Laurel’s. At
X* Laurel was an odd mixture of
artificially anil truthfulness, of craft
and nalvette, of grownup woman and
little girl. She could deceive her
mother without flickering an eyelash,
and could repeat to strangers the
little white lies Stella taught her,
with the finesse of a woman of the
world, hut at school in her work and
play, she was never anything but
strictly honest.
Laurel never asked her mother ques
tions about big things. She had dis
covered that her mother always
changed the subject ever so quickly
if she did. And once she had ex
claimed, "Oh, my! I,aurel, nice little
girls don’t talk about things of that
sort!"
T’ntll then Laurel had thought that
perhaps she might ask her father. He
liked talking about big things, about
certain big things, th?lt Is—like beau
tiful music, and beautiful sunsets,
and being honest and a good sports
man. and all that. Hut laurel was
shy with her father during the short
periods she spent with him. He al
ways Introduced the subjects of their
conversations. She’d sooner die in ig
norance than to ask him a question
that wasn’t “nice.”
CHAPTER XT.
1.
■\Vhen Helen Morrison caught the
timid, butterfly-like creature that
Laurel was at 13, In her soft deft
hands, and cautiously lifted one
scooped palm from over the other,
as It wore, and peered Into the dark,
domed chamber to see what sort of
creature was there, her interest was
instantly aroused. She had never
seen a ilttle,-girl specimen of Laurel’s
sort—so composed and self posBessf-d
In speech and manner, qp at home In
smart, up-to-date sportt^so familiar
with smart, up-to-date beauty shop
secrets—but underneath like a child
who has lived on an island, alone
somew'here. untold and untaught.
"She's like a book I bought In Flor
ence once,” Helen Morrison told S*o
phon one day, after Laurel bad been
visiting her. "It's a beautifully bound
took, in full leather, and hand-tooled,
in old blue and gold. But Its pages
are blank. I bought It to write odd
bits of poetry In. Yes. Laurel Is a
little like that—beautifully finished on
the outside, but full of page* as white
as snow that never have been written
on.”
(Continued In The Morning Pee.
We Take Pleasure in Announcing
the Association of
Frank M. Pond
with this organization, who will take an ac
tive part in its afairs.
Mr. Pond has been engaged in the in
surance business for thirty-five years and
we believe his experience and extensive ac
quaintance will be a valuable asset to our
customers and selves.
G. L. Martini Co.,
Incorporated
INSURANCE
Every Kind Everywhere
JA ckaon 0274 Brandeis Theater
Twill ope for us the gales of Para
dise,
And we shall drink of love xvith
heart's desire.
If you would taste of love, drink of
the pure stream,
And scale Olympian height with
steady feet—
Give love to him whose heart seems
like a stone;
Give kindness to the stranger whom
you meet.
And after all, the warming glow Is
short—
Ambition takes a less ambitious aim,
The killing frost upon the heart soon
creeps.
And love has changed, we find It not
the same.
And. after all, what Is our love but
God,
Who casts affection In each humble
breast,
Making our sordid commonplace a
dream.
And soothing visions In our troubled
rest?
Eternal love! The love that never
dies—
Bright In the morning, warmest at
noon—
Still lie erlng In the evenlngtlde of
life,
And then the little flame Is out, too
soon.
Too soon bright eyes In coming years
grown dim,
And passions cool In winter weather's
blast;
'Tls then that forms we love fad* and
decay,
And love reflects itself In love at last!
€&LESS
GR&P
Fortify the system Against
Golds, Grip and Influenza
by taking ^
taxation ) Vr
-Bromu '
'nhiB
tub fats
which destroy germs, act as a
tonic laxative, nnd keep the sys
tem in condition to throw off
nil attacks of Colds, Grip and
Influenza.
The box hears this signature
Price 30c.
3MllionT)olUm
to be spent in
J QJ2j4 c^x/k^
____4
Someone Asked—Is Omaha Growing?
rpHE answer is Yes! Omaha is growing
steadily and surely. That’s what counts
in the genuine development pf any city.
Many new residential additions are being
rapidly developed. Thousands of homes are
being built. Several fine office buildings
have sprung up in the business districts.
Many new industries have located here.
T5 \XKTXG, building and population fig
nres of 1923 prove Omaha’s growth, but
the truest barometer of all is tlie electric
light and power industry. As new additions
are developed electric extensions must be made. As
new industries locate here, and others develop, the
output of the power plant must be increased: new
machinery must be installed; transmission lines
must be erected to carry the load.
Omaha had a “great year” in 1923. From all indications
1924 will he even greater. The Nebraska Power Company is
prepared to meet this development. It stands ready to serve,
not only for 1924, but additions and extensions are now be
ing made to take care of the city's needs for several years
to come. Because our industry is absolutely essential we
must make plans and build for the future as well as take
care of the present.
We Will Spend $3,000,000 in 1924 for Power and Light Addi
tions and Extensions.
SERVICE HEADQUARTERS’
This new building, being erected at Forty-third and Leavenworth
streets, will house the garage and storeroom. The pole yards will be
adjoining.
The "Service Headquarters” is a big factor in keeping Omaha's
light and power rates low, for with Its efficiency of operation costs
are kept down.
From this centrally-located station emergency repair cars will be
rushed In answer to "trouble" or repair calls,
Jn this building there will be located also an employee's auditorium,
where dances, parties and meetings of the Nebraska I’ower company
family will be held. K.vei jibing Is done to make their dally work
as pleasant as possible As a result tile public benefits, for a better
and a higher grade of service Is given by men and women who are
contented and happy. This buildlng'and equipment will cost $110,000.
POWER PLANT ADDITIONS
A large addition Is now being built to tiie power plant at the foot of
Jones street, to house another huge turbo-generator—tbs same site
as liig Joe. A mammoth boiler, two circulating pumps and a S3,Odd
square foot condenser are also being installed. The condenser will
condense 225,000 pounds of steam per hour. The circulating pumps
will draw from the Missouri river about fin,000,000 gallons of water
daily—or twice the amount of water used by the City of Omaha.
These additions will cost approximately $2,000,000.
CENTRAL SU3STATI0N
The Ceniral sub station, now tinder construction at Twentieth and
Howard streets, will supply the downtown district with light and
power. latest improvements are being installed to assure a high
standard of continuous service.
In case of a breakdown in any of the switching equipment, a new
switch can be installed within less than a minute.
The building will be two stories high and a basement. The machin
ery Is being installed ss ihe building is being erected Klertric energy
will be transferred from the power plant to this sub station at high
voltage and redistributed from here to the downtown section of the
city. The Increased demand at South Omaha will necessitate an ad
ditional transmission line to that section this year, intensions will
also be made in many of the outlying sections of the city. The cost
of this structure and equipment will be $61)0,000.
LINE AND CABLE EXTENSIONS
Omaha's rapid growth has brought about a demand tor large exten
sions of electric light and power service.
•New cables, the largest ever laid in Omaha, are being placed under
the downtown streets to take care of increased industrial demand.
In order to keep electric light ami power "abut downs" to the abso
lute minimum, special emergency lines also will be placed under
ground. In case there is trouble on a main circuit, an emergency
feeder will be put Into service instantly. The cost of the.se improve
ments will be $400,000.
ALL FOR A GROWING, THRIVING, BETTER OMAHA
To the Citizens of Omaha we wish a very happy and
prosperous new year; may the close of 1924 show even
a greater record for our city than that of 1923. It can!
It will! LET OUR SLOGAN BE—
“Omaha Is A Great Place In Which To Live ”
Nebrdskd L. Power @.